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Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club has changed planes at Dulles! Die Hard 2 was a nice change of pace from our usual fare of war movies and science fiction classics. It holds up very well today, arguably better than any of the later Die Hard sequels. John McClane's path to superherodom seems to already be clearly established but it's pretty subdued compared to what is yet to come. And the overall idea of criminals hijacking an airport instead of a plane remains pretty neat, too!

As noted in the introduction post, the immediate Wing Commander creative connection is pretty tenuous. The original Privateer's character design document calls out Commodore Riesmann as being based on Die Hard 2's Colonel Stuart (William Sadler). Privateer was originally intended to have a 'Confederation versus Kilrathi' main plot which would end with you siding with one of the factions. That was dropped and the

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This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut event happening on Discord this morning! Join us at noon EST/9 AM PST for a fun filled morning of cartoons... that all connect to Wing Commander somehow! Get ready to find out just how much a part of early 1990s culture the Wing Commander series was. You can find details on the shows included as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. Be sure to download the episodes so they're ready to play with the group!

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A world desperate for good news (or at least news that isn't awful) is going pope crazy this week as the Catholic Church has named Leo XIV as the latest spiritual leader in their centuries-long tradition. Of course this has prompted many in the media to ask the big question: what's going on with the church in Wing Commander's distant future? Are there still popes? Well, the first movie spinoff novel, Pilgrim Stars, confirms that there are when Blair explains that the McDanielist (Pilgrim) church's highest office, called "protur", is their equivalent.

"She's not going to McDaniel to destroy it. That planet represents everything she stands for. Someday she'd like to see it as the hub and governing force in the universe, much like Earth is today. Yes, if I know her, she's going to McDaniel to see somebody, a man named Protur Carver Tsu the Second."

"Protur ..." Blair repeated, reaching into his memory.

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The Wing Commander movie club is back from Skull Island and King Kong turned out to be just what we needed (a giant ape). This week, we're going to revisit a true classic: Return of the Jedi, the epic conclusion to the original Star Wars trilogy. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

There's little question that Return of the Jedi influenced Wing Commander: it's spectacular third act space battle was the best in the business for decades. The Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide specifically calls out Return of the Jedi as one of Chris Roberts' major influences for the original Wing Commander game:

Roberts had always been fascinated by science fiction movies and television shows, especially those like Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica and Return of the Jedi. He liked the action elements of space combat, the dazzling special effects, and the variety of characters the

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While putting together the recent memorial update we extracted all of Maniac's in flight comms from Special Operations 2 to include in the post. After realizing how nice it was to be able to hear those lines on demand I decided to put together a complete archive of the comms from Wing Commander's infamous "Speech Accessory Packs". And so we did! You can find the complete index for four games below. Each site will let you read the script for each line and then play it right in your browser (or save it for later).

Wing Commander

The original Wing Commander didn't ship with speech but several later versions have added it. We've included the Super Wing Commander audio along with the scripts for several different ports; it's pretty interesting to see how things were censored for the Super Nintendo release! We'll add the Sega CD versions of the audio files once they can be extracted with Originator.

Wingmen

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

A surprisingly tense mining boom in LP 855-34 has concluded, with supporters of Felicia Winters claiming success over Yuri Grom's pilots.
A call for Platinum by the system's governing faction triggered an influx of ships representing the two powers. Longstanding issues between Yuri Grom and the Federation fed into the competitive aspect of the issue, and it is perhaps no surprise that it was the latter who claimed the greatest number of mined resources in the end.
Speaking on behalf of Winters' support base, a representative gave this statement:
"The efforts of our mining teams over the past two weeks have been nothing short of remarkable. We provided enough Platinum to ensure that LP 855-34's governing faction will meet its manifesto building projects. And, just as significantly, we showed that the Federation dominates all competitors in matters of industry!"
Those who took part in the

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Back when we were surfing the net at 14.4k bps, the only realistic way to test drive the latest Wing Commander games was by loading it from the cover CD of a magazine. In fact, Wing Commander III's then-massive demo was the centerpiece of the very first PC Gamer cover disc! To honor that history, here are all five of the PC Gamer discs that brought us bonus Wing Commander combat starting with Wing Commander III in 1994 and going all the way to the shocking free release of Kilrathi Saga WC1 in 2000!

December 1994 - Wing Commander III Demo

• ISO Download

January 1996 - Wing Commander IV Demo

• ISO Download

March 1998 - Wing Commander Prophecy Demo

• ISO Download

November 1998 - Wing Commander Secret Ops - Episode One

• ISO Download

July 2000 - Wing Commander I Kilrathi Saga

• ISO Download

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Did you know that Cobalt 60's Prophecy album wasn't Wing Commander's first flirtation with electro-industrial music? The band Velvet Acid Christ actually composed a track in 1994 called "Furless Freak" for an album called Dimension 8 that heavily sampled Super Wing Commander. When we say heavily we mean it: you're going to hear the first briefing and what seems to be a playthrough of the following mission. It's weird and cool! Is it worth your time? Yes, this is objectively the greatest song ever recorded.

Download MP3

Dimension 8 was not released commercially at the time but it was included as a hidden bonus in mp3 format on VAC's 2000 album Twisted Thought Generator. It was later made available for free at the band's website and in 2020 it was remastered for a digital release which you can purchase today! Here's the official description:

Dimension 8 by Velvet Acid Christ follows their previous

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

The Alliance Assembly has voted to end the strategic defence pact between the Alliance and Sirius Corporation.
The pact, agreed in January 3308, was a response to growing Thargoid hostility in the months prior to the alien invasion of the core systems. At the time, the Alliance Defence Force was seen as lacking adequate Anti-Xeno modules and defences. Sirius Corporation spent billions on refitting ADF vessels over the past three years, but has been accused of leveraging its position to secure profitable contracts in unrelated fields.
The motion to end the pact was raised by Councilor Nakato Kaine, seconded by Councilor Ainsley Niven of Reorte, and was approved by a slim majority. In her opening argument Kaine had called the pact an 'opportunistic ploy for military influence in Alliance space, with eyes on a monopoly over small corporations founded in Alliance member systems.'
Prime Minister

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Return of the Jedi which... you know Return of the Jedi, I don't need to explain this! You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

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Greetings WingNuts,

Going into the original King Kong, we weren't sure what to think. Some of the older films in our series have been pretty stodgy by today's standards (looking at you, Dam Busters)... and being from 1933, King Kong was the oldest of them all. But we were pleasantly surprised: once King Kong got into the action it was effervescent and as much fun as a modern blockbuster.

The direct Wing Commander connection comes to us from a USA Network commercial in which Wing Commander Academy's background artists share that the island on Pisces in Word of Honor was based on the one from King Kong. Here's a comparison!

We suspect the entire movement through the second act of the episode was based on King Kong, though. Our heroes must transit a dense jungle... beset by sea monsters... and then escape to a climactic scene on the ledge of the mountain.

And for good measure, here's the shot that Chris

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

July 1998 issue of Femme Fatales magazine (offering "the luscious ladies of horror, fantasy and science fiction") has an interesting interview with Wing Commander III and Prophecy star Ginger Lynn Allen conducted while she was doing press for the latter game. It even features two photos of Ginger on set that we've never seen before (plus some fairly tame cheesecake from other parts of her career)! Scans are below; here's the Wing Commander-focused portion:

And, one year later, she rekindled her celebrity with an interactive CD game. The medium is full of X-rated divas, but Allen opted for some sci-fi extravagance with WING COMMANDER III: HEART OF THE TIGER. In lieu of moaning and heavy breathing, she was working with the likes of Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, John Rhy-Davies and Malcolm McDowell.

Debuting in 1989, WING COMMANDER — the first simulated 3-D space flight game — earned enough revenue to spawn

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Origin composer George Oldziey has started shipping out copies of his new Wing Commander album! While production continues for the vinyl, people who opted for just the CD will be receiving their shortly. George put out a survey call earlier in the month for people to confirm their addresses, and there are still some folks who haven't done that yet. Log in to the project's Kickstarter page for contact details and links to digital files to tide you over until the physical copies arrive!

Greetings all. I'm still waiting on delivery of the vinyl LPs so I apologize for the delay. I've begun sending CDs out domestically, although I still don't have everyone's mailing address. If you live in the US and pledged for the CD level and have not received your CD within the next week please email me your name and mailing address.

Those who are outside the US I will be getting to those CD deliveries this week.

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You have to work pretty hard not to love Return of the Jedi… and frankly, we're not willing to do that much work; it was great! This week, we're back to World War II with Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970). Tora! Tora! Tora! is a spectacular retelling of the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II. The movie's production is as much an epilogue to the story as it is a telling of it: the film is a massive international co-production divided between American and Japanese teams with directors from both countries filming their parts of the story. You can join us this Friday via Discord to watch along.

Chris Roberts discussed Tora! Tora! Tora! as an inspiration for the Wing Commander movie frequently during interviews. He repeatedly described Wing Commander as an attempt to update Tora! Tora! Tora! for a science fiction setting.

“For me, it's sort of like a classic, nautical World War

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Want to challenge one of Kilrah's finest? Here's a guide to where you can find the various Kilrathi aces in the first three Wing Commander games. Wing Commander I and the 3DO port of III both have a system where aces will reappear if you miss them... up to seven times in some cases! Wing Commander II and III, on the other hand, only give you one shot at each. One neat situation is that if you let all the aces survive in the original Wing Commander they can all appear in the same final mission in Hell's Kitchen!

Wing Commander

Bhurak "Starkiller" nar Caxki (Salthi)

• McAuliffe 3
• Gateway 3
• Hell's Kitchen 2
• Hell's Kitchen 4

Dakhath "Deathstroke" nar Sihkag (Dralthi)

• Gimle 3
• Cheng-Du 2
• Rostov 1
• Hubble's Star 1
• Venice 3
• Hell's Kitchen 3
• Hell's Kitchen 4

Khajja "Machine" nar Ja'targk, aka "The Fang" (Krant)

• Brimstone 3
• Rostov 3
• Venice 1
• Hell's Kitchen 1
• Hell's Kitchen 4

Baktosh "Redclaw" nar Kiranka (Jalthi)

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We received an e-mail with a question we thought was worth investigating: "I've been reading about Ultima VII: The Lost Vale and it got me thinking: were there any Wing Commander expansion disks in the works that didn't make it out? The short answer is yes, two Wing Commander addons were solicited in some capacity by Origin but very little is known beyond that. They've both been long the subject of rumor and speculation and so we thought we'd check the archives and at least prove they were technically announced!

Wing Commander II: Special Operations 3

In late 1991, Origin held a conference on CompuServe with Ellen Guon and Siobhan Beeman talking about the imminent release of Wing Commander II. One of the surprising things mentioned was that there would be THREE Special Operations disks. "Special Operations 3" was never listed for preorder and we have found very little mention of the concept over the

Quote from Elite Dangerous Galnet News-Bot

Two significant trading blocs have emerged in Alliance territory following the termination of the Strategic Defence Pact.
Last week, Sirius Corporation was ordered by the Alliance Assembly to reduce its involvement in Allied military infrastructure and logistics. The move, labelled 'fascinatingly short-sighted' by Sirius Corp CEO Li Yong-Rui, has triggered an economic rush from Allied corporations to grab the lucrative contracts issued as a result.
The two trading blocs have somewhat predictably formed around the two leading voices in the Alliance Assembly – Edmund Mahon and Nakato Kaine.
This marks the latest in a growing series of confrontations between the galaxy's major Powers. In LP 855-34, a contested mining system, Felicia Winters initially secured control by the end of the first week of conflict. However, her success provoked an immediate and forceful response from Yuri Grom's

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Back in April 1999, a company called Showscan announced that it was developing a Wing Commander motion simulator "ride film" under license from Digital Anvil. Unfortunately, the film never materialized and no one has ever come forward to tell the story behind it… though we do know that it was in active development for months! You can see the original press release that we reported twenty six years ago here.

I routinely trawl places like LinkedIn and the Internet Archive to see if I can find anything from the project (which we do know was in active development for at least four months and possibly for as long as a year before Showscan went into administration). I haven't found anything from Showscan directly but I did recently come across a pretty fun bit of ephemera: a news report from the July 1999 issue of GamePro covering the Showscan announcement that features a cartoon of a roller coaster being

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

This is a reminder that we have another fun #Wingnut movie night planned on Discord this evening! The ongoing theme will be movies that inspired Wing Commander in some way. Tonight's film is Tora! Tora! Tora! which informed Chris Roberts' vision for the Wing Commander movie… and which was essentially the first draft of Action Stations! You can find details on that as well as how to watch along with us in the announcement post here. The movie will start about 7 PM PST/10 PM EST but feel free to drop by and hang any time!

Quote from Wing Commander News-Bot

Greetings WingNuts,

The Wing Commander movie club certainly enjoyed Return of the Jedi! It was great to see the original version (with the original songs!) again after so many years and it's just a tremendously fun, well made movie that continues to impact pretty much every space opera to this day in some way. There's always an argument that Empire Strikes Back is the 'smart' Star Wars sequel and that Return of the Jedi is somehow tainted because it feels more commercial… and it's hard to maintain that when you're actually watching the movie. It's a stunning piece of work that has as much artistry and thought as anything else in the Star Wars saga and I think it's particularly telling that Chris Roberts seems to come down on the Return of the Jedi side.

As we noted in the introduction post, Chris Roberts has credited the space battles in Return of the Jedi as inspiring combat in both the original Wing